While there are a number of different travel options available to most people, including such mass-transit options like buses, subways, and commuter trains, a large number of people still use their own vehicles to travel between home and work, as well as to travel to other locations. With increasing populations, the number of miles being driven nationwide has dramatically increased. Government budgets for new roads and new lanes on existing roads have not kept pace with the increasing usage of roads, however, resulting in traffic gridlock on many major metropolitan roads for ever-increasing lengths of time during the day.
Therefore, other mechanisms have been introduced in order to reduce traffic congestion. One popular option is the carpool, or “high-occupancy vehicle” (HOV), lane. For roads having more than one lane traveling in the same direction, a lane is designated as a carpool or HOV lane for at least certain times of the day. During these times, only vehicles having a designated number of occupants, including the driver, are permitted to drive on these carpool or HOV lanes.
Carpool or HOV lanes, however, have not proven to be as successful in reducing traffic congestion as had been hoped. Many drivers cannot or do not want to carpool with other people in order to be able to drive on these lanes. As a result, traffic department planners are in a difficult position. They cannot build new roads or lanes on existing roads, due to lack of money, and drivers have not been taking advantage of carpool or HOV lanes in the numbers that were hoped. As such, traffic congestion continues, and appears to be getting worse.